Pilot aims to circle globe, set record

Saturday

Mar 24, 2007 at 12:50 AMMar 24, 2007 at 2:06 AM

The Associated Press

OPA-LOCKA - A 23-year-old aerospace student began a trip in a single-engine plane Friday as he tries to become the youngest person and first black pilot to circumnavigate the globe alone.
Barrington Irving took off from Opa-locka Executive Airport aboard his Lancair Columbia 400 at about 11:48 a.m. before a crowd of several thousand students. He plans to arrive back April 30.
"I want this completed before the year is over so kids can see that someone who started off with nothing, set a goal and completed it," he said before his takeoff. "Even with the challenges, everything is starting to fall in place. It's just my time."
Irving was born in Jamaica and grew up in Miami. He said he saw little chance for success until he met a Jamaican-American pilot at his parents' Christian bookstore in Pembroke Pines.
The pilot, Gary Robinson, took then-15-year-old Irving to see a Boeing 777. The teen was mesmerized. He turned down college football scholarships to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. Irving is now studying at Florida Memorial University; he has private and commercial pilot licenses.
Irving is also at the helm of Experience Aviation, a Miami-based organization he founded to encourage minority youths to pursue aviation careers. He secured more than $300,000 in donated parts to have his plane built.
The pilot originally planned his round-the-world trip a year ago, but the $1 million project was delayed because of a shortage of money. He is still $20,000 short, he said, but plans to fly regardless.
He will make stops in Cleveland and Farmingdale, N.Y., before passing into Canada, then crossing the Atlantic, through Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Already, though, Irving is considered an inspiration.
"It took feats like this to take our minds and imagination to the moon and beyond," said Fabio Alexander, the owner of the Opa-locka airport. "Aviation provides a lot of opportunities and it makes you believe."